Benin

On behalf of the delegation of the Republic of Benin, allow me to convey to Mr. Jan Kavan our heartfelt congratulations on his well-deserved election to the presidency of the fifty-seventh session of the General Assembly. His skills, his extensive experience in international affairs and his dedication to the lofty causes championed by the United Nations guarantee the success of our work. I wish to assure him of my delegation's full cooperation and support in ensuring the full success of the work of this session. I should like to take this opportunity also to congratulate and to thank his predecessor, Mr. Han Seung-soo of the Republic of Korea, who presided so ably and with such dedication over the work of the fifty-sixth session of the Assembly. I wish also to pay tribute to our Secretary- General, Kofi Annan, whose devotion and skills have enhanced the prestige of our Organization. The message that I bring the Assembly from Benin is a message of peace, which our people are experiencing, and a message of the preservation of peace in all its aspects, in keeping with the Charter of our Organization and with the Millennium Declaration, in which we pledged to build for future generations a world free from fear, hunger and ignorance. 24 The barbaric acts perpetrated a year ago, on 11 September 2001 here in New York and in other places, are still vivid in our memory, making ever more urgent the need to make greater strides in our common endeavour of civilization. The sincere and spontaneous compassion and sympathy of the peoples of the world for the victims of the terrible attacks of 11 September prove that more than ever before we are bound by a common destiny. It is therefore vital to give real meaning to this solidarity and this shared responsibility. The United Nations must continue to play a dynamic role in the promotion of international cooperation in order to prevent and punish acts of terrorism. For Benin, nothing — no pretext whatsoever — could justify such barbaric acts, and the terrifying images that I am loath to recall today will remain etched in our collective memory throughout the twenty-first century. Benin's firm commitment to combating terrorism is unambiguous, and we intend to fight this scourge with resolve. Thus, pursuant to Security Council resolution 1373 (2001), adopted on 28 September 2001, Benin submitted a report on the measures we have taken to prevent and punish acts of terrorism. A constructive and effective dialogue is under way with the Security Council Committee regarding proposed measures to prevent and suppress the financing of acts of terrorism. However, the anti-terrorist campaign will be more effective and more comprehensive if it is organized on the basis of strict respect for the purposes and principles of the United Nations. We believe that there is an urgent need for a clear, precise, legal definition of international terrorism in order to prevent the haphazard character of our individual or collective initiatives from jeopardizing the effectiveness of the global coalition against the terrorist threat. By placing Africa at the centre of its concerns for the new millennium, the United Nations has rightly focused the attention of the international community on that continent, which, despite its commendable efforts, is having difficulty finding its way towards development. The persistence of war and conflict, which repeatedly lead to great bloodshed in that part of the world, is one of the main reasons for that situation. Aware that, as it faces new challenges, our continent is at a critical stage in its development and that it is for Africa to shoulder its own responsibilities, African leaders have taken a number of political initiatives aimed at resolving conflict, rising to the great challenge of endowing Africa with new forums for dialogue and action. This African renaissance, by means of which Africa is determined to take control of its own destiny and find solutions to its ills, should be encouraged through support for the African Union, which was launched in Durban, South Africa, in July this year. The African Union espouses the vision of the founding fathers of the African nations and of the former Organization of African Unity. The African Union is different from the Organization of African Unity because it stresses the need for the economic integration of the continent and affirms that peace, security and stability are indispensable conditions for the creation of an environment conducive to development and that good governance must be the norm for our States. I wish to reaffirm what many earlier speakers have said: Africa is beginning to play its proper role. It looks forward to a concrete demonstration of the goodwill so often expressed by the international community. It looks forward to real action in the form of deeds. We expect this for the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), for example. Under the wise guidance of the President of the General Assembly, we spent an entire day debating that African Union programme. Relevant remarks were uttered, commitments undertaken and forceful statements made from this very rostrum, and I do not need to dwell further on that subject. Now is the time for action, and time is of the essence. Globalization must become synonymous with a better life for all the peoples of the world. The world cannot just stand by and watch the spectacle of an Africa that has been marginalized and ravaged by wars and disease. Africa must not be an object of condescension, as if the world did not have sufficient resources to avert catastrophe. I am sure that our collective awareness is real and sincere. That is why I welcome the timely initiative of the Security Council to establish an Ad Hoc Working Group on Conflict Prevention and Resolution in Africa. We hope that that initiative will demonstrate a genuine, ongoing commitment on the part of the Security Council to act to put an end to the cycle of violence in Africa, thereby according equal treatment to all humanitarian crises without exception. 25 In the context of collective efforts to consider and deal with the question of conflict prevention and resolution through a comprehensive, integrated approach that takes into account political, economic and social dimensions, my delegation recommends reinforced interaction between the Security Council and the Economic and Social Council, in particular by developing close consultations with the Ad Hoc Advisory Group of the Economic and Social Council on African countries emerging from conflict. One of the most encouraging signs for Africa in recent years — indeed in recent months — is the firm determination finally to put an end to fratricidal warfare. We must support such efforts everywhere, including in Sierra Leone, Angola, Congo, Eritrea and Ethiopia. I want to comment in particular on Sierra Leone, which has successfully emerged from a risky and dangerous electoral process. I would like to take this opportunity to pay a well-deserved tribute to the United Nations and to the countries which, at the bilateral level, have been helping Sierra Leone to reintegrate itself into the community of nations. I hope that the positive evolution of the situation in that country will have a ripple effect within the Mano River Union. I welcome the outstanding progress that has been made in the process towards the restoration of peace and security in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In that respect, I would like to pay a well-deserved tribute to President Thabo Mbeki and to the facilitator, Sir Ketumile Masire, for their commitment and perseverance. We welcome the fact that the guns have now been silenced in Angola after so many years of suffering, destruction and privation. It is crucial to strengthen and consolidate the peace process that is under way in that country. That is why I urgently appeal to the international community to provide support that is commensurate with the enormous reconstruction needs of Angola. Only thus will conditions be right for the establishment of lasting peace and sustainable development. I am pleased to note, among the initiatives to promote peace in Africa, the success of negotiations on an agreement on the demarcation of the border between Ethiopia and Eritrea and the continuing dialogue to restore peace in Burundi and the Sudan. In January this year, 49 of the poorest countries of the world chose my country, Benin, to hold the chairmanship of the coordinating office for the least developed countries. When we accepted that prestigious post, my Government was well aware of the heavy responsibilities that we were assuming. The most important item on mankind's agenda today is sustainable development. Any progress — or any regression — must be assessed by the group of countries that Benin is now coordinating. The international community itself recognizes that many problems remain. The Third United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries noted with regret that previous goals had not been achieved, and it clearly identified the main obstacles to the development of the least developed countries. These include the continuing decrease in official development assistance, the debt burden, the difficulty of gaining access to the markets of the developed countries and the lack of foreign investment. By adopting a Programme of Action and a Political Declaration at Brussels, the international community renewed its commitment to helping the least developed countries resolutely to deal with mechanisms whose operations increase poverty. Mindful of the need to mobilize energy and increase capacity in order thoroughly to implement the Brussels Programme of Action, the least developed countries took the initiative of meeting at Cotonou, from 5 to 7 August 2002, in order to consider ways and means of ensuring the implementation of the Programme. The Cotonou conference formulated guidelines and made recommendations, contained in the important Cotonou Declaration. At the national level, the Declaration recommends the establishment of an implementation and follow-up mechanism to monitor integration of the Programme of Action into national development programmes and to promote the creation of a national forum for dialogue. It also recommends that the least developed countries design their strategic development priorities in keeping with local contexts. That is an important factor for guaranteeing rationality and national ownership of policies. At the international level, United Nations and other international agencies are called on to incorporate the Programme of Action into their work programmes and Government processes. 26 I believe it important to call attention to the dangerous dwindling of resources available to the operational institutions of the United Nations system — particularly the United Nations Development Programme, the United Nations Population Fund, the United Nations Capital Development Fund, the United Nations Children's Fund and the World Health Organization — and to stress the crucial need to find ways and means of increasing those resources in order to strengthen these agencies' valuable efforts to combat poverty in our countries. The Cotonou ministerial meeting also recommended the establishment of a synoptic table to be used by the Economic and Social Council when it reviews and follows up the implementation of the Programme of Action by the least developed countries and their development partners. I wish at this point to reiterate our gratification and thanks to Secretary-General Kofi Annan for the celerity with which he implemented the decision taken by the General Assembly at its fifty-sixth session to establish the Office of the High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States. The Secretary-General nominated Ambassador Chowdhury of Bangladesh to that important post, which he has already assumed. In nominating Ambassador Chowdhury, the Secretary-General could not have made a more fortunate choice. We all know Ambassador Chowdhury and his great experience, resolve and dedication. His country, Bangladesh, has served the group of least developed countries with distinction for 20 years. I salute that work today. The Secretary-General and each one of us must now offer every assistance to Ambassador Chowdhury and his Office in becoming fully operational and in carrying out his important mission of obtaining the resources necessary for action. To that end, it is important that every Member of the United Nations, even the poorest, make some effort, for example, by contributing to the Trust Fund to support the implementation of the Brussels Programme of Action. The Government of Benin will assume all its responsibilities in that respect in due course. In Johannesburg recently, at the World Summit on Sustainable Development, the international community acknowledged its responsibility to the poor, the vulnerable and the marginalized as members of the great human family. It also recognized the need to conclude a world alliance for sustainable development, by which the developed countries would make the essential effort of solidarity with the poorest. A giant step forward was taken there, but action is now required. We fervently hope today that all the measures advocated in Johannesburg will become a reality. If they do not, there will be no reduction, but an increase in poverty. We can stave off that danger, which is deadly for all of us.